


Cruise ships and comic books

by Leah_Red



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Cruise Ships, M/M, blond gerard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 01:57:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2006649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leah_Red/pseuds/Leah_Red
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermit comic book artist Gerard Way decides to finally get away from home and go on a cruise, where he finds that one of the staff has a look that's too amazing to not draw.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cruise ships and comic books

Frank sighed noisily as he cleaned yet another bathroom. He hated this but at least he wasn't stuck down in the sweltering kitchens, or up on the deck. As much as he liked being out in the sun, he burnt easily and if he worked out there he'd have to cut his mohawk-ish hair in to something more customer friendly.

Although, after having to pick up another used condom and clean jizz out of a bathtub (since when did EVERYONE think it was acceptable to leave that shit out, honeymoon or not) he was seriously considering it. He sighed again as he took his cleaning bucket and utensils, put them on his cart, and wheeled to the next room. It was one of the nicer ones, that he always wished he could stay in rather than the staff rooms.

He knocked politely on the door. Before he could say that he was part of the cleaning crew, the door opened.

"H-hello?" A quiet voice barely made it's way out of the cracked door. Frank saw a pale face with olive eyes, and a shock of messy yellowy bleached hair.

"I'm part of the cleaning crew. I was going to clean but... you're here. Sorry." He didn't know why he was apologizing. Normally he'd just move on but something kept him there. "Is there anything I can. Uh. Help you with?"

The person in the room shook their head suddenly and shut the door. Frank shrugged. Probably some seasick rich kid. Didn't matter to him. He moved along to the next room and hoped he didn't have to go back and clean up his puke.

\-------

Gerard peered through the door at the short man offering to clean his room. It was the same person he had been watching for the past few days- there was no way it was a coincidence, right?

He locked the door and made his way over to the windows and small balcony that the room had. The site of the ocean calmed him down, though he didn't go close to the edge. He had always been kind of odd, according to his friends, and more than a little bit of a shut in. But his comics made him money and his art was worth a lot, apparently, so he was happy. More and more people pushed him to go out though, so he decided on the spur of the moment to get a pass on a cruise ship. A large room with plenty of space, hopefully one that didn't feel claustrophobic. He just didn't count on all the other PEOPLE.

So he hadn't done much more than order room service and draw. But the few times he did venture out, he saw that same person. Dark hair, the unmistakable dent of a removed lip ring. They went out of their way to be nice, it seemed, even though they looked like they should be living it up in some club rather than working on a cruise ship.

Gerard almost didn't believe it when he showed up at his door. He refused to believe he was feeling anything for someone else but... whatever it was, it made him want to go out, risk being around other people, to go find him.

He took his sketchbook and pencils and went up to the deck. At least if he was going to look for someone he could keep working.

\----

Frank was more than startled when someone tapped him on the shoulder one morning. He was setting up the bar, close to five am ship time, for the morning rush of drunks, when someone tried to get his attention.

"Um." He turned around to see someone that looked vaguely familiar. After a moment of thought, and imagining just seeing part of their face instead of all of it, he realized it was the person he accidentally spoke to the day before.

"Can I help you with something?" Frank asked. He started to put on his 'I'm too tired to deal with you ask it and get away from me' smile but something about this guy... he felt like he had to be a little more gentle.

"I had something. For you. Sort of, if you wanted." He was holding out an envelope. As soon as Frank took it out of his hand he turned and started walking away, and was gone before Frank even thought to look in it.

Tilting his head curiously, Frank opened it up. Inside was thick paper, almost like cardstock, folded carefully in to thirds. Unfolding it, he saw that it was a drawing of himself. Happy and laughing, with that grin he had when one of his coworkers made a good joke at one of the guest's expense. Humming, he frowned a little. It was familiar. Obviously, it looked like him, but... down at the bottom was a tiny signature that he recognized almost right away.

"No way..." There was no way he could mistake that scribbled word at the bottom, a little lowercase 'g' followed by 'xoxo'. Gerard Way. His absolute favorite comic book artist. Who he had spent almost an entire cruise's paycheck on to get original drawings for his Umbrella Academy series on. That person was on his cruise ship, drew a picture of him FOR HIM, and... apparently maybe had a crush on him??

He put the drawing back in the envelope and hurried to finish his job so he could run back to his room. He stored the drawing safely and wondered if what he thought was true or just a stupid suspicion. In any case, the thought of selling the drawing didn't cross his mind even once.

\-----

Gerard thought his heart would beat out of his chest. He didn't know if the other person would like the drawing, or know how hard it was for him to give it to them. He didn't feel like he could relax until he was back in his room, resting against the closed door. It was so early, but he couldn't sleep, and he was glad he went out looking for the person he realized he was kind of... falling for.

He shook his head and slid down to the floor, feeling like an idiot. He didn't know who they were, or his name, or anything about him other than that he was staff on the ship and he had such a drawable shape.

Sighing, Gerard got up and sat on the bed. He'd spent all night drawing and sketching and was exhausted. He didn't undress and lay on top of the messy bed.

Gerard didn't realize he fell asleep until there was a soft knock on the door and there was sun shining through the windows to his balcony, making him feel stuffy and hot. He thought about ignoring the door, but the soft knock repeated again, and he'd rather go answer it than have someone come in without his permission.

"Hello?" He didn't look through the peephole before he cracked the door open, and was startled in to opening it almost all the way when he saw who it was. The one from earlier, who he kept drawing.

"Oh. Shit, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, I can come back later-" He started to walk away until Gerard shook his head and realized he'd have to talk.

"No, wait!" He gulped and took a breath. "You. Came to see... me?"

He nodded slowly, taking a step back towards the door. "I got some time off the clock. And. Yeah." He held out his hand, giving him a grin almost exactly like the one in the picture he gave him. "I'm Frank. Frank Iero."

"Gerard. Way." He shook his hand politely, still a little sleepy.

"Jesus it really is you..." A look of awe crept in to Frank's eyes. He shook it away and held out the paper. "I. I kind of wanted to give this back." He held out the envelope and Gerard looked at it blankly. He felt something in his chest crumple slightly and didn't know why.

"Do you not like it? I can draw it again, or draw you again, or-"

"What no! I love it! I just. I don't think I deserve it."

Gerard was dying to ask him why, but instead fought against years of behavior to reach out and grab Frank's sleeve to pull him inside. "We can talk in here," he said quietly. He didn't want to be rude, making him stand in the hall like that. Frank nodded and followed him in, but didn't look like he wanted to step far from the closed door.

"Listen, this drawing- it's amazing. It's the coolest thing I've ever owned. It's probably worth more than everything in my bunk right now to be honest." He bit his lip, and Gerard wondered if he was used to pulling and worrying at his removed ring.

"But?"

"But it's... it's YOU. I've been reading your comics for years, you're like. My hero, I can't take this."

"You aren't taking it. I'm giving it to you." Gerard looked up and made himself look Frank in the eye, thinking that in the right light his hazel irises might look gold.

"But why? I'm just some kid who works a shitty job on a cruise ship."

"You... seem..." Gerard shook his head. Putting things in to words he could do, but not SPOKEN ones. "You act... nice. And look nice. And I haven't. Wanted to get to know someone in a long time but I want to talk to you."

Frank took a little bit of a shaky breath. It took him a few seconds to process what Gerard just said and he thought he would probably fall over, or something, before he just nodded.

"Yeah. Okay."

He spent the next few days spending almost all of his free time with Gerard. The comic artist let him fawn over his sketchbooks and drawings, answering questions about what he drew, how, and why. In return, Gerard asked him about what it was like to live on a cruise ship, working there pretty much full time, and what it was like back where he came from.

They were both more than a little sad when it was the last day before the ship docked and Gerard would be leaving.

"I'm gonna miss you." Frank wasn't exactly allowed to do this, but he had spent the night in Gerard's room. They didn't sleep, or even do anything that you'd expect for spending the night in his room, just sat together on the couch and watched bad movies and drew. Well, more like Frank watched Gerard draw, but that was good enough for him.

"I'll miss you too." He shrugged his shoulder a little bit, nudging it against Frank's. "I really wish that you could stay with me." Frank blushed bright red and Gerard stuttered slightly. "I- I mean- like this. I mean like this, together, talking. No one wants to talk to me, not the way you do."

Frank nodded slowly. He realized over the past few days that Gerard had a lot of personal boundaries that he couldn't cross, or toed slowly. Leaning on him and watching him draw was the most he'd been in contact with him so far. He sat up a little straighter, and didn't look away from Gerard.

"Don't freak out okay?" he said quietly. Gerard tilted his head slightly, curious, and Frank took his chance, leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the lips. He hurried to back off and scoot away a little, in case he had done something too much.

Instead, he had a front row seat to watch Gerard turn pink, first around his cheeks, then up to his blond hair and down to his neck. He dropped his pencil to carefully touch his bottom lip.

"Can you do that again?" he whispered.

\----

Frank stretched a little, happy that even with his short frame, he could go almost totally spread eagle on the bed and not touch the edges. He sat up, blinking at the bright light coming in through his windows.

"Gerard I thought I told you to wake me up when you got up!" He pulled on a shirt and went to find his artist.

"Well I would have, except I never went to bed in the first place." Gerard was sitting at the table, an easy grin on his face and an empty coffee pot in front of him.

Frank sighed and put another pot on to brew. "Didn't even save me any coffee," he grumbled, only mockingly angry.

It didn't take more than a few months of constant emails and phone calls for Gerard to convince Frank to move in with him. It was surreal- he was able to do almost anything he wanted with his time, most of which he spent playing music, and Gerard was there with him. They hadn't done much more physically than kiss and touch, getting Gerard used to the close contact. But it was something, and Frank was happy to walk him through it.

Frank finally sat down with a cup of coffee and looked down at the latest work. It was a guest comic for Batman, and he couldn't wait to see it finished. "Gee, that's gonna look fantastic."

"Thanks. Care to go with me to take the designs to the office."

"Sure. You have to promise to sleep when we get back, though."  
"Hmmm fine. But only if you promise to be there with me."


End file.
